Marshall Home, 81, charged customers $500 as part of a purported Arizona-based service to halt mortgage-foreclosure proceedings through an entity known as “Individual Rights Party; Mortgage Rescue Service,” federal prosecutors said.

But his service was a scam in which Home, a Tucson resident and self-described “sovereign citizen,” insisted he had a valid claim of more than $3 billion against the government, prosecutors said.

Home was arrested Friday on charges of false claims in bankruptcy. Prosecutors said he “filed or caused to be filed 173 false claims” against the United States in bankruptcy court and filed a fraudulent petition on March 16 in Arizona that sought to put the United States itself into involuntary bankruptcy.

All in all, prosecutors said, Home’s false claims totaled more than $2.5 trillion.

“The anti-government paranoia of so-called ‘sovereign citizens’ becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they use their false claims and fraudulent practices to rip-off others,” said U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke.

Some “sovereign citizens” have been linked to credit-repair schemes and say they do not believe U.S. law applies to them.

Home became involved in the bankruptcy of Giordano’s, a Chicago pizza chain and eatery. The Chicago Tribune reported last week that a judge tossed Home from the proceeding for being disruptive.

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5 Responses
to “‘Sovereign Citizen,’ 81, Arrested In Arizona On Federal Charges Of Making False Claims; Marshall Home Hawked ‘Foreclosure Rescue’ Scheme And Sought To Place United States In Bankruptcy, Feds Say”

Sovereign citizens are not funny. The fact that they do not respect law or courts leads to inherent conflicts in which they threaten anyone in authority.

The only law they recognize is the Second Amendment. They are highly armed and highly belligerent. Extreme conspiracy nut cakes. Their world view is hard to understand. They quote snippets of 19th century case kaw. Admittedkly, the Uniform Commercial Code is hard for new lawyers to understand but the notion that the court system follows the code is hard tio follow.

It is not surprising that these people find themselves entangled in ponzi and other fraud. If the law does not apply to you, there is no such thing as fraud.

If a sovereign citizen who doesn’t believe he/she is subject to the laws of the United States commits a crime against another sovereign citizen who also doesn’t believe he/she is subject to the the laws of the United States, has a crime really been committed ?
Bring back gunfights in the main street at high noon, I say.

Or do sovereigns get to pick and choose which particular laws they choose to believe and/or adhere to ?

On a more serious and practical note,

Where in the constitution of the USA did the founding fathers give them goll-darned revenoor Feds the right to tell a free man/woman on which side of the road he/she should drive ?